Entrepreneurship inside and out: Three essays exploring the interplay between hybrid entrepreneurs and their organizational employee roles

A growing body of research focuses on undertaking new venture creation while remaining employed in existing organizations. Known as hybrid/part-time entrepreneurship, scholars suggest most entrepreneurs engage in entrepreneurship in a part-time capacity. As such, there exists an interesting space for the study of a new form of interrole dynamics: employee and entrepreneurial role interactions. Through three essays, I conceptually and empirically explore the effects of engaging in hybrid entrepreneurship on outcomes associated with employee and entrepreneurial roles. In Essay One I present a theoretical model of role enrichment from entrepreneurial to employee roles. Specifically, I propose that individuals engaged in entrepreneurship in a part-time capacity develop a unique skillset through entrepreneurial learning which can be effectively applied to tasks in employee roles in the form of recognizing and exploiting opportunities for innovation. In Essay Two, I empirically test these role enrichment hypotheses using a primary data sample of 1,245 employees; many of whom are engaged in part-time entrepreneurship. Results confirm that people engaged in running side businesses exhibit greater innovative behavior at work, especially in work groups that foster climates conducive for innovation and for individuals with goal orientations toward learning. In Essay Three, I examine the potentially negative effects of hybrid entrepreneurship on outcomes in both employee and entrepreneurial roles and test the existence of “work-venture” conflict through a sample of 34 entrepreneurs surveyed over several weeks. Results confirm negative impacts from conflict to satisfaction in employee roles and bricolage behaviors in entrepreneurial roles, and a positive impact on intentions to leave employee roles

Military identities : men, families and occupational change.

This thesis is based on a longitudinal study of servicemen and their families, as they experience transition from careers in the Royal Navy to civilian life. The analysis is based on data derived from three sets of focused interviews with twenty couples, conducted in Plymouth over a period between November 1995 and October 1998, and the findings of a questionnaire survey of just over two-hundred leavers. It develops a theoretically distinctive approach, drawing on the literature of organisations, discourses and identity, in order to understand servicemen's relationships with naval careers, and the implications for adaptation to civilian life on leaving. The research examines the meanings that men attach to naval careers and organisations, and their symbolic significance for their experiences of both service and civilian life. The analysis addresses the effects of careers on identity, decision-making, personal relationships and friendship networks, families, domestic divisions of labour, career interplay, parenting and resettlement. Whilst general patterns of success or failure in resettlement have been the main focus of past interest, this thesis uncovers the differential experiences of leavers in all their complexity. The study identifies a relationship between quantitatively and qualitatively different levels of naval involvement and the personal and familial experiences of career change and resettlement. The main findings of the work relate to wider issues of organisations, cultures and discourses, and are relevant to current debates about the future of military cultures, as well as the more specific issues surrounding resettlement

Unmet goals of tracking: within-track heterogeneity of students' expectations for

Educational systems are often characterized by some form(s) of ability grouping, like tracking. Although substantial variation in the implementation of these practices exists, it is always the aim to improve teaching efficiency by creating homogeneous groups of students in terms of capabilities and performances as well as expected pathways. If students’ expected pathways (university, graduate school, or working) are in line with the goals of tracking, one might presume that these expectations are rather homogeneous within tracks and heterogeneous between tracks. In Flanders (the northern region of Belgium), the educational system consists of four tracks. Many students start out in the most prestigious, academic track. If they fail to gain the necessary credentials, they move to the less esteemed technical and vocational tracks. Therefore, the educational system has been called a 'cascade system'. We presume that this cascade system creates homogeneous expectations in the academic track, though heterogeneous expectations in the technical and vocational tracks. We use data from the International Study of City Youth (ISCY), gathered during the 2013-2014 school year from 2354 pupils of the tenth grade across 30 secondary schools in the city of Ghent, Flanders. Preliminary results suggest that the technical and vocational tracks show more heterogeneity in student’s expectations than the academic track. If tracking does not fulfill the desired goals in some tracks, tracking practices should be questioned as tracking occurs along social and ethnic lines, causing social inequality

Literate Change Agents Working in Oral Communities: Navigating Paradigm Shifts

This research documents the experience of 12 local leaders implementing an oral curriculum over 13 months in Karnataka, India. These leaders were Change Agents interested in influencing a community with new information. They created audio materials referred to as “content” in their group’s mother tongue: In a Kannada-Telegu mix for the Madiga group (a Scheduled Caste); in Vaagri Booli for the Hakkipikki group (a Scheduled Tribe); and in Kannada for the Kannadiga group. The first two languages are unwritten. The Kannada language is the official language of Karnataka state. The oral curriculum followed the Spoken Worldwide® model. Each team of local leaders designed their content by combining a topic, a local proverb, and an informative resource in story form. Next, the individual leaders facilitated discussion groups in their community centered on the content. Eighteen men were interviewed; this included six community discussion group members. The Connected Learning Framework was the conceptual lens for this research. It consists of four constructs—relationship, relevance, oral modes of communication, and mutual respect. Relationships played a primary role because the learners preferred to work with individuals they knew, or with individuals who were approved by the community’s leaders. Content that centered on what was relevant to community members was well-received by the listeners. The leaders used modes of communication that were familiar to community members by presenting content in the mother tongue and including local proverbs. By facilitating discussion after presenting the content, the leaders demonstrated mutual respect ensuring a multidirectional flow of information. This informed how the leaders created subsequent content. This research found that introducing new ideas, specifically Christian Scripture as a source of wisdom, was received positively by almost all audiences. In addition, the Team Leaders who had more experience using oral modes of communication, specifically telling Bible stories, and facilitating discussion were more consistent in implementing the Spoken process and principles and modeled the process during the content creation sessions with their Local Leaders or in presenting the content in their Leader’s gatherings. These leaders who had more experience with Connect Learning strategies were able to navigate further in the oral learning paradigm

How managers learn when their organisations go through change

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.A review of the learning literature reveals the current lack of a viable theory of how people learn when they encounter change in the workplace. This thesis presents a new model of learning that describes how people learn in response to changes in their environment. The research tracked the learning of twenty-one managers and staff from two organisations implementing change programmes. Participants recorded their learning in monthly diaries whilst interviews were conducted at the beginning and end of the year. Learning as an outcome was defined as any change in behaviour, cognition or emotional orientation towards a cue. Learning outcomes for each participant were identified and the learning process was then tracked through the interviews and monthly diaries. The research identifies four core learning processes that appear in all instances of learning: paying attention, responding emotionally, making sense of 'cues' and taking action. Learning is said to have taken place when these four processes are engaged in such a way as to lead to emotional, behavioural or cognitive change. We then ask the question - what motivates people to engage these processes in ways that lead to learning and change? We noted that learning is both driven and inhibited by four important needs - the desire to achieve important goals, achieve psychological well-being, fulfil personal values and establish self-esteem. Finally, we identify five different learning states, showing how the underlying dynamic driving these processes differs according to the degree of control exercised over the learning process. The research goes on to describe the detailed dynamics that illustrate this theory. We conclude that learning, particularly in response to change, is a far more complex process than many current models suggest. We attempt to encapsulate this complexity in our own learning model and then suggest possible area for future research

Beyond Money

What would a world without money look like? This book is a lively thought experiment that deepens our understanding of how money is the driver of political power, environmental destruction and social inequality today, arguing that it has to be abolished rather than repurposed to achieve a postcapitalist future. Grounded in historical debates about money, Anitra Nelson draws on a spectrum of political and economic thought and activism, including feminism, ecoanarchism, degrowth, permaculture, autonomism, Marxism and ecosocialism. Looking to Indigenous rights activism and the defence of commons, an international network of activists engaged in a fight for a money-free society emerges. Beyond Money shows that, by organising around post-money versions of the future, activists have a hope of creating a world that embodies their radical values and visions

Organisations as complex adaptive systems : implications for the design of information systems

Today a paradigm shift in the field of organisation and management theories is no longer disputed and the need to switch from the Command-and-Control to the Leaming Organisation Paradigm (LOP) in the area of organisational theory is well understood. However, it is less well appreciated that learning organisations cannot operate effectively if supported by centralised databases and tailor-made application programs. LOP emphasises adaptability, flexibility, participation and learning. It is important to understand that the changes in organisational and management strategies will not on their own be able to produce the desired effects unless they are supported by appropriate changes in organisational culture, and by effective information systems. This research demonstrates that conventional information system strategies and development methods are no longer adequate. Information system strategies must respond to these needs of the LOP and incorporate new information systems that are capable of evolving, adapting and responding to the constantly changing business environment. The desired adaptability, flexibility and agility in information systems for LOP can be achieved by exploiting the technologies of the Internet, World Wide Web, intelligent agents and intranets. This research establishes that there is a need for synergy between organisational structures and organisational information systems. To obtain this desired synergy it is essential that new information systems be designed as an integral part of the learning organisational structure itself. Complexity theory provides a new set of metaphors and a host of concepts for the understanding of organisations as complex adaptive systems. This research introduces the principles of Complex Adaptive Systems and draws on their significance for designing the information systems needed to support the new generation of learning organisations. The search for new models of information system strategies for today's dynamic world of business points to the 'swarm models' observed in Nature